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"Make other people’s lives better," with Ukrainian tech founder Andrew Alexseyenko
Episode 1918th May 2022 • More Than Work • Rabiah Coon
00:00:00 00:33:40

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This week’s guest is Andrew Alexseyeko. He is the founder of two tech companies and co-founder of KOLO which is an organization helping those on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.

Recently, Andrew fled his home in Kiev due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He spoke to me from a city in Western Ukraine where he is currently residing and working.

After spending some years as a product manager, Andrew founded the software development company Storypoint and software reseller and implementer Partnerway. The latter seeks to help businesses in Ukraine digitize and adopt technology.

When the war started, Andrew worked with peers and friends in the tech industry to build the Help Ukraine Win (https://helpukrainewin.org/) website. Then, they founded KOLO, a fund to assist the Ukrainian military purchase items they need such as vests, drones and night vision tools.

Through crisis, Andrew has found a different purpose and has also seen a change to the way a team works together too. It redefines the culture. To that end, Andrew has decided to take no profits from his businesses until the war is over and will be putting the funds into supporting Ukrainian refugees and the army.

Lastly, Andrew and his team are creating a platform for those in Ukraine looking for work in tech, to match with those hiring. The war has also taken a toll on how businesses operate inside the country and others interact with Ukraine from outside the country.

Note from Rabiah (Host):

For many of us outside Ukraine, we talk about being heartbroken and what is happening there, and outraged. There is very little most of us can do other than give money. I feel very humbled by Andrew and his story. It is a privilege to share it with my listeners. Both he and I would love to hear from you. The link to KOLO is below if you want to donate.

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Find Andrew

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexseyenko/

KOLO: https://www.koloua.com/en

Storypoint: https://storypoint.team/

Partnerway: https://partner-way.com/

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Mentioned in this episode:

Conductor: https://www.conductor.com/

Aura: https://www.aura.com/

Diana Tereshchenko: https://twitter.com/Ditereshchenko

Bohdan Kit: https://twitter.com/bohdan_kit

Martijn Verbove: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martijnverbove

Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/

Andrew Ng: https://twitter.com/AndrewYNg

Veronika Didusenko: https://www.rabiahsaid.com/podcast/s5e9-veronika-didusenko

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More than Work Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @morethanworkpod Please review and follow anywhere you get podcasts. Thank you for listening. Have feedback? Email morethanworkpod(at)gmail.com!

Transcripts

Rabiah Coon (Host):

This is More Than Work, the podcast reminding

Rabiah Coon (Host):

you that your self worth is made up of more than your job title.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Each week, I'll talk to a guest about how they discovered that for themselves.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You'll hear about what they did, what they're doing and who they are.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I'm your host, Rabiah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I work in IT, perform standup comedy, write, volunteer and of course podcast.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Thank you for listening.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Hello, and thanks for tuning into this episode of More Than Work.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I'm really excited to bring you this guest.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

It was a privilege to talk to him.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

He is from Ukraine.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

He fled his home in Kiev and is now safely in another city where he, along with a

Rabiah Coon (Host):

bunch of other people in the tech space that he's worked with before, or, that are

Rabiah Coon (Host):

friends of his, founded a charity that's benefiting the Ukrainian troops direct.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You'll see in the show notes that I have links to the organization

Rabiah Coon (Host):

if you want to make a donation.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You'll know where the money is going.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You'll hear from Andrew he's the guest.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I really enjoyed talking to him.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

He and his organization reached out to me to see if he could do the podcast.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And when I learned more about, um, he was, he was a perfect fit because he has

Rabiah Coon (Host):

had his career in tech, but he's also now discovered like volunteering and charity

Rabiah Coon (Host):

and, and made that part of his life.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And it's really changed the meaning of work.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And he talks about how being in crisis has also affected as team.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I think this is something that will resonate with a lot of people,

Rabiah Coon (Host):

even though the idea of being at war, isn't familiar to a lot of us.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Um, I just I've been so struck by the grace and the bravery of the people

Rabiah Coon (Host):

that I've encountered from Ukraine.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Just that have been in my life that I know from school and that

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I had Veronika Didusenko on the podcast before and now Andrew.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So I really hope you enjoy this episode.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

It's kind of a quick one for More Than Work, but it's really, to me, it was just

Rabiah Coon (Host):

meaningful to get to speak with Andrew.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And I hope to meet him one day in person.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

We've already talked about that.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Like hopefully this will be done for them soon.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And, we will all be able to meet in person and help help them rebuild.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Um, there's not much more to say because it's just anything I say is

Rabiah Coon (Host):

trite for, for what's going on, but I'm glad to share the message of this

Rabiah Coon (Host):

organization and of Andrew's story.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Thank you again for listening and enjoy the episode.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

All right, everybody today, my guest is Andrew Alexseyenko.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

He's the co-founder at KOLO and co-founder at Storypoint and Partnerway.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And we're going to find out what all those things are.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And this is really special episode.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I'm glad we're getting to share his story.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So thanks for being on Andrew.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah, thanks for having me, Rabiah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah, of course.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And where am I talking to you from?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

What's your location in the world?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So right now I'm located in Vinnytsia.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It's a small city in Ukraine.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It's about 200 kilometers from my native city.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It's Kiev.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So basically I moved from Kiev around like three months ago because

Andrew Alexseyenko:

of the war has started there.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So it's pretty safe here as, at least as, as it could be here.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah, well, that's, um, I mean, I, I just can't imagine how

Rabiah Coon (Host):

difficult it is just to move your life.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And so you left a lot of things there, I imagine.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And then you just brought what you needed to with you, right?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I just like left everything.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like I just had my backpack when the war started.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Uh, so on the second day, uh, we just went to train station.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And on, the train station, there was like trains going everywhere.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And, uh, we just like hopped on the first train.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And I, I didn't didn't know where this train is going.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So I just had a train to west Ukraine and, and, and this that's basically a story

Andrew Alexseyenko:

how have I ended up in, in Vinnytsia.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Wow.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Wow.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Well, so we're going to talk more about, about all of that.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And I just want to say at the start, like, I'm very sorry for what you guys

Rabiah Coon (Host):

are going through and Ukraine, and I'm, I'm really glad that you're taking

Rabiah Coon (Host):

the time to share your story cause I think you have a great More Than Work

Rabiah Coon (Host):

story, but also there's something that, again, we'll be able to offer

Rabiah Coon (Host):

that people can do who are listening.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So first of all, I'll just state, you're pretty young in my opinion,

Rabiah Coon (Host):

compared to me, but you're already an entrepreneur .And you've been a

Rabiah Coon (Host):

product manager, which I was a product manager a little while ago in my career.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Let's talk about your work as a product manager and also what Storypoint and

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Partnerway your two companies are.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Sure.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Basically I, uh, worked for as a product manager for five or six years.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I started my career in, um, in MarTech.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So I was working in conductor.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It's a company that is doing like search engine optimization for B2B companies.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

We were acquired by WeWork.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So it was free pretty interesting ride.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Uh, we were required just before WeWork were going to IPO and then they'll all

Andrew Alexseyenko:

those articles about Adam Neumann and 47 billion valuation and all this, like

Andrew Alexseyenko:

smoking weed on his plane and, and that.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

The devaluation of, uh, WeWork is not going to be the same and it's

Andrew Alexseyenko:

not going to have an IPO and you're internally on all this stuff.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So, and then the, afterwards, WeWork acquired our company, WeWork sold the

Andrew Alexseyenko:

company back to founder of a Conductor and that's, that's also amazing story.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And now the folks in Conductor, uh, are driving company further by themselves.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And they think that they are doing even better right now.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And after that, I joined the company called aura.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So we were doing different VPN apps like hotspot shield, better

Andrew Alexseyenko:

net, VPN 360, and basically the companies doing the security.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So I was mainly managing if you, a few products.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So, uh, we were doing like a lot of AB testing, a lot of launching

Andrew Alexseyenko:

some features some new products.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So it was super interesting.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So you were doing all that and then what made you decide to found

Rabiah Coon (Host):

your own companies after that?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I thought that I need to have more responsibility

Andrew Alexseyenko:

on my life and what I am doing.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like the folks in companies, they, they did, they gave me a lot of

Andrew Alexseyenko:

responsibilities inside, but still, uh, you know, th there were a lot

Andrew Alexseyenko:

of freedom in what I was doing.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

But still, I, I wanted to have more impact and by more impact, you need

Andrew Alexseyenko:

to have like more responsibility.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

If you're like managing like more people and you're managing more users in your

Andrew Alexseyenko:

products, you're making more impact that, that you, you you've done before.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So I just like wanted to have like more responsibilities.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You founded a Storypoint first then?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Or.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So, um, I know Diana, which is my co-founder around like eight years now.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And we were brainstorming on different things, how to make our own company.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Several people who reached out to Diana and they wanted, uh,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

us to make an apps for them.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So we decided that we can start with something to build

Andrew Alexseyenko:

some products for our clients.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So that's, that's how it started it.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So we decided that building products for other people, it's

Andrew Alexseyenko:

also good and also makes impact.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I've done the same thing where I've been inside

Rabiah Coon (Host):

a company, working for the company for the products of the company

Rabiah Coon (Host):

on the website and the mobile app.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And then I've been on the other side where I've been a consultant more recently and

Rabiah Coon (Host):

doing, not really product management, more project management, but with the

Rabiah Coon (Host):

knowledge, right, it's still there.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And it does feel different.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You're feeling for me, the feeling of responsibility was a bit different, but

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I still always feel very responsible.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So how did that shift the perspective for you going from managing your

Rabiah Coon (Host):

own products to really building products for other people?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah, so firstly, you don't have, uh, your manager here.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Sure you have your clients that, that, that on the first place, but you

Andrew Alexseyenko:

don't have like managers and that's how you need to be more responsible

Andrew Alexseyenko:

and you need to have like some internal motivation to do something.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So, uh, so you would, you would know what.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

You want to do everyday?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like when you're waking up, like, what is your goal for this day?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like you everything just like starts from scratch.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I learned some discipline from, from this.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So I just want to have my daily routine in each morning, like to wake up, brush

Andrew Alexseyenko:

my teeth, have some water, do some exercises and then starting the day.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And it helps me a lot to just start off the process.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So your routine sounds like you changed a little bit

Rabiah Coon (Host):

managing yourself because you didn't have a manager, but then as far as even you

Rabiah Coon (Host):

managing products, like for me, when I went from managing my own products for

Rabiah Coon (Host):

a company I worked for, I would feel very possessive and very responsible

Rabiah Coon (Host):

for outcome and the way that, like I was making the decisions, but with consulting,

Rabiah Coon (Host):

what I found was I would almost just say, well, this is what we advise you

Rabiah Coon (Host):

to do and if they didn't want to do it, they would have to just come back and

Rabiah Coon (Host):

ask us to change something else because they didn't, they made a bad decision.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So did you find anything for you?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Like your relationship with products changed when you owned them versus you

Rabiah Coon (Host):

were just helping people put theirs out.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Um, so, um, for me, personal and not a lot of things changed

Andrew Alexseyenko:

on the decision making side.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I always try to make the decisions that will impact the user

Andrew Alexseyenko:

itself, not the decision maker.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

For example, if you want to if you know that the user flows that we are proposing

Andrew Alexseyenko:

is better and we do some user testing with users and they like it more and

Andrew Alexseyenko:

we have the data, uh, that support it.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So that we are sharing to our clients and we are trying to make the decisions

Andrew Alexseyenko:

that will be better for the end user.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And I mean, I think that people forget the end users sometimes

Rabiah Coon (Host):

when they're making decisions.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So they think, well, this is my idea though, it's good.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

It's like, well, yeah, but the users won't understand it, you know?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So it's funny.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So Storypoint, that's where you're building apps and products for people.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And then what about Partnerway?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

How did you come up with that and what is Partnerway?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So Partnerway is, uh, the companies that, uh, is a reseller.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So we are a partner of Google, And Zendesk and Asana in Eastern Europe.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So we are helping companies to do better and digitalize their businesses.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So a lot of businesses in Ukraine, there are not so high digitally as others.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So for example, a lot of Agro businesses in Ukraine, for example, they don't

Andrew Alexseyenko:

use the latest technology and we are onboarding those people and learning how

Andrew Alexseyenko:

they can use and get most out of the team collaborations and are learning how to

Andrew Alexseyenko:

work with like project management tools like us on that customer support that

Andrew Alexseyenko:

they can automate the process of their customer experience, understand taking

Andrew Alexseyenko:

like just by phone calls, they can do it online on their websites and so on.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Cool.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You're doing all these things and then just like that

Rabiah Coon (Host):

your, your country is at war.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I mean, just to put it really bluntly.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And so that caused you to change directions a little bit too, right?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And you found a, um, KOLO project.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So what is it?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

As the war started in, in Ukraine, I just like, want to

Andrew Alexseyenko:

share like my story and I think like a lot of people are feeling similar.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I was sleeping with when the war started.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Everybody was like calling me...

Andrew Alexseyenko:

The war started at it's like it's 6:00 AM.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And, uh, I, I was sleeping till, uh, nine or 10.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I don't know.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And I I'm just like sleeping very good and nothing can can woke me up.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So even the war.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

When you're waking up the first thing is like shock and you don't know what to do.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And most of the people I know they, they were like scared, like they

Andrew Alexseyenko:

were evacuating and that's it.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So during like the first one or two day, like I was almost, uh, uh, do

Andrew Alexseyenko:

nothing, uh, in terms of productivity.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I was just like evacuating as my friend and families we're doing.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Uh, and the second day you're realizing that you need to do

Andrew Alexseyenko:

something and you need to help.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So what we created with my friends my friend like Bohdan Kit, and my other

Andrew Alexseyenko:

friend from Netherlands, Martijn Verbove.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

We chatted that we need to create some website and help our, uh,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

trusted organizations to collect more donations to help army with vests.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

At that point we understood that a lot of people were willing to fight, but

Andrew Alexseyenko:

they just didn't have any equipment.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Do you want to fight for a country where they don't have access to even

Andrew Alexseyenko:

military equipment of the shortage?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So we decided that we need to change and we created a website called Help

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Ukraine Win where are we make a list of all this like trustable organizations.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And we launched it on product hunt.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

We made it on the first place.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

We had a lot of traffic on this website.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

During the first few weeks we had half of million people have used it, our web site.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Fortunately, we don't know the amount of the donations that were

Andrew Alexseyenko:

made because we were collecting donations to other organizations.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Uh, and what we found that during the first weeks, uh, those

Andrew Alexseyenko:

organizations there were overwhelmed.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

All those organizations grew by 100% in the amount of,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

uh, their money at that flow.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So they just like, couldn't keep up this operations.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

At that time we uh decided that we want to merge with a KOLO.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So we, we, we collected all those donations on the website.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It was around, uh, 60,000 euros.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So was KOLO existing before.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

No, no, no.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

KOLO wasn't existed before.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So KOLO in parallel, like on, when we were launching this, the, um,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

group of like product managers like me, they created this organizations.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It's the same ideas that we need to help the, uh, the army.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So it's, it's also like my friends and, uh, that they're working

Andrew Alexseyenko:

in, in big companies, like Wise.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like Tumblr.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like bolt and others.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So it's like, Pavlo Pedenko, Tolik Kozlovskyi, Anton Diatlov, Bodhan Kit...

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And some other Eastern European names that you probably won't pronounced, but,

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

How has your perspective changed when now you're managing this kind of

Rabiah Coon (Host):

organization versus your other ones?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Like, is there any difference in how it makes you feel or how your focus

Rabiah Coon (Host):

in your life has shifted a little bit?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah, sure.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

A lot of things changed.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Now in KOLO there are 50 or 70 team members.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Um, and, uh, most of the people that are doing it, part-time not like full-time

Andrew Alexseyenko:

and they're having like their daily jobs.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

The difference that it's it's fully volunteer activity and people are just,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

uh, uh, doing it because they, they want to do so I see that on the work sometimes

Andrew Alexseyenko:

people just sport because of the money or just because they need to, and you see

Andrew Alexseyenko:

this difference because so many people like brought together and, and they're

Andrew Alexseyenko:

not like bringing together because of the morning money or some, uh, other

Andrew Alexseyenko:

incentives they are bringing because they don't want to help other people.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So, uh, The environment is a little bit different.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And then do you see some, so much passion from those people and so I

Andrew Alexseyenko:

think that the culture is different.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

It's one, it's one purpose.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

That makes sense.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I mean, sometimes you end up with a purpose at work that makes sense

Rabiah Coon (Host):

for someone, but not for someone else, but you're just doing your job,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

One thing in IT...

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I mean, and another jobs too, but I know very distinctly in IT, you'll

Rabiah Coon (Host):

send up having "emergencies" come up like everyone panics and the client's

Rabiah Coon (Host):

really mad and oh, we have an emergency.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You have to fix this now.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And usually what happens in my experience as you go through these like crazy

Rabiah Coon (Host):

times, and then everyone will do stuff.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And then at the end, someone always says, well, we're not curing cancer.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

We need to calm down.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Or we're not saving lives.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

We need to calm down.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Cause it's just our way of dismissing the fact that people were

Rabiah Coon (Host):

probably acting inappropriately.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And really making something more than what something was.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

But in your case now you are working somewhere where you guys

Rabiah Coon (Host):

are actually trying to save lives.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And do you think that this will shift your perspective later on?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I mean, hopefully you guys get through this sooner than later and can start

Rabiah Coon (Host):

rebuilding, but then you'll have your job again, your regular day jobs.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Do you feel like any shift in your perspective already, or do

Rabiah Coon (Host):

you think it will in the future?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I think everyone has shifted in their daily lives life's perspective

Andrew Alexseyenko:

and their life values here.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I think before the world, a lot of people were focusing on like small things

Andrew Alexseyenko:

that not matter so much, uh, they were like upset about the daily situation.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

They don't have some stuff in their homes.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

They can buy and afford some uh, some physical things, but right now

Andrew Alexseyenko:

they understood how life is important and the it shift their perspective.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

For me personally like if the war ends, hopefully soon, I won't stop volunteering.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like the main goal of KOLO is to help saves lives in army.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So, because of like, we are buying this like vests and helmets and

Andrew Alexseyenko:

other protections, and drones, After we can finish the war we

Andrew Alexseyenko:

need to rebuild the country.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like a lot of like homes are destroyed, a lot of other

Andrew Alexseyenko:

constructions are destroyed.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So you need to take also responsibility for that.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And I think that I would rebuild the country.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So, as for me personally, uh we transitioned, uh, two companies,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Partnerway and Storypoint to non-profit organization.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So before the war ends, we don't make any profit to, uh, the founders.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

We are giving this money to other volunteering activities.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Sometimes it's to KOLO.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Sometimes is to, um, other people impacted by war uh, like refugees and other things.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So I think that we will make some, some project like that in the future.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I'm thinking about, um, several ways how we can do this.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

We can do some percentage.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So for example, we can gather companies that will make, uh, 1% or 5% of their

Andrew Alexseyenko:

income, and that would, would, would be directly to some restructure fund.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And we'll make some impact with this volunteering project.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I'm willing to invest that for my company.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So I don't know how others, but I think that is an interest in this.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Hmm.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And did you, I guess before this, did you volunteer?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I mean, for me, service is a big, it's a core value of mine.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

A hundred percent I've spent, I've spent quite a bit of time, not enough

Rabiah Coon (Host):

time, in my opinion, but quite a bit volunteering and doing service.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And I don't know where that came from.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Personally, it just, it's just been part of me since I was a kid.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Did you have that in you before?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Or is this something that's new that you're experiencing now?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Well, uh, I, I did some volunteering duties.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Is this just studentship uh, when I was studying in university,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

uh, we were organizing, uh, TED events, like that conferences,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

local ones in Kiev, and others.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So I think during my life.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I just like had to volunteering now and then, uh, a little bit, uh, around that.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like back then, we were more interested in learning.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So because of we were interested in education, it made this educational

Andrew Alexseyenko:

conferences to share as ideas to, to, to, to do something.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Now we shifted our perspective and they think like right now we m ostly want to

Andrew Alexseyenko:

help people to survive, to end this war.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And then I think that we will have different values, but you have

Andrew Alexseyenko:

different values during your lives.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

But steely of this volunteering part is there so.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Cool.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah, no, that's great.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And, I think it's really cool that you've you looked kind of rationally at what

Rabiah Coon (Host):

needs to be done and you started doing it.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

One thing with KOLO too, it's you guys are all

Rabiah Coon (Host):

tech people.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So it's kind of a lot of nonprofit organizations, at least from my

Rabiah Coon (Host):

experience, they're created for the cause that they're working for.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And they're working on programming for that.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And then the tech all came in as a secondary option.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And so you'll see kind of bad implementation and stuff, but you

Rabiah Coon (Host):

guys are starting from scratch as tech people with the cause but

Rabiah Coon (Host):

the tech people for the cause.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And so you've got a little bit different of a website.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Since you weren't in fundraising before, how did you go about architecting?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

What you wanted to display on the site and the transaction flow and everything?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah, sure.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

First like almost all the co-founders.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

They are like product managers in the past, uh, and, and very

Andrew Alexseyenko:

experienced product managers.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So our main goal is like to, to bring tech to the military and tech to volunteering.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So what, what we are doing is uh, we created a subscription.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Um, probably it's the first war subscriptions that exists, uh, and,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

uh, so how it looks like it's, it's, it's, uh, around like $6 per day, which

Andrew Alexseyenko:

is $200 per month to support, uh, the army and all those funds are, going.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

We, firstly, we don't have any salaries in NGO.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So like there are a lot of NGO, like, uh, the Red Cross and other

Andrew Alexseyenko:

organizations as a paying sellers, but one kind of the percent of the donations

Andrew Alexseyenko:

are going directly to the needs.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

That's one difference sources that we are having.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

When we just like launch to subscription, we had, uh, around one, 1000 to

Andrew Alexseyenko:

people who subscribed in three days.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Uh, yeah, mostly from Ukraine because of.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

In in, in Ukrainian.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It's, it's such a good example of how people collaborate and going

Andrew Alexseyenko:

together and want to help and giving their donations and, and,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

and support to these organizations.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And right now we also launched this subscription, not only internally

Andrew Alexseyenko:

to Ukrainian, but also externally.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So anyone can subscribe.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

We have, uh, the reports on our website, where this money goes

Andrew Alexseyenko:

and so everyone can see it.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And right now it helps us to do plan activity.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And we know that we can buy some vests in then as next months or some other things

Andrew Alexseyenko:

like night visions or thermal imagers.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Nice.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

That's cool.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And smart to just kind of productize the idea of donating one thing

Rabiah Coon (Host):

that I've thought a lot about and I think a lot of people have.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

A lot of people who are external to this, I think have good intentions.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

They want to help.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I had an experience recently where you know, everyone's saying they want to

Rabiah Coon (Host):

help and they're doing the hashtag, you know, for Ukraine and everything.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

But then when asked to do an action, it's hard to get them to actually do it.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And one area I can see that I know too is like in an IT recruiting and businesses.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And how have you seen a shift in how you're experiencing working with

Rabiah Coon (Host):

businesses outside of Ukraine and just kind of people they're getting

Rabiah Coon (Host):

displaced from their homes, but also possibly their jobs if companies

Rabiah Coon (Host):

aren't surviving and things like that.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So have you seen any thing there?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah, so from what we saw, uh, during the first few weeks

Andrew Alexseyenko:

a lot of companies that were working in local market, they were forced to fire

Andrew Alexseyenko:

people in tech and other industries.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like for me, as I'm working in tech, it's more related to, to, to me.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

As an example, we have a company called Rozetka.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It's a small Amazon here in Ukraine.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like the biggest e-commerce.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So their revenues in first two weeks say dropped from four billions dollars

Andrew Alexseyenko:

of revenues per month to 23 million.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

They fired some part of employees and the same things with other local

Andrew Alexseyenko:

companies because of the market is shrinked so they needed to fire people.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And we are seeing that there are a lot of great people, uh here in Ukraine.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Um, because for men is not allowed to leave the country.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So, uh, they they're staying here.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And what we are seeing that from, from trends within the industries

Andrew Alexseyenko:

that companies are not willing to hire in Ukraine because of the risks.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And a lot of people don't have just like jobs and that's impacting

Andrew Alexseyenko:

like the GDP of the country.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And they can't find a new job.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So it we be created some kind of the platform for people to sign up and then

Andrew Alexseyenko:

we we are searching for the clients who are willing to, to hire those

Andrew Alexseyenko:

people and that's also our impact in, in, in the economy and helping those,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

uh, people who, who can't leave the country, but they still have jobs.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like usually we don't have a lot of problems with hiring, uh, Ukrainians who

Andrew Alexseyenko:

are in Europe or in US or other countries.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

But there's still the huge problem of hiring within the country and

Andrew Alexseyenko:

those people are in safe locations.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So like, it's in, in Lviv, Chernivtsi, Vinnytsi as I am like,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I'm, I'm sitting in the office.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It's quite safe here, but they still can't have a job so that's also our

Andrew Alexseyenko:

project that that we want to develop.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Great.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Well, I mean, Andrew, I really respect what you're doing and

Rabiah Coon (Host):

the insights you're bringing into helping your country in this way.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I mean, there's different ways to do it.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You could, you know, strap on a vest and go or do things

Rabiah Coon (Host):

this way using your strengths.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Good, good job on that.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I mean, it's, it sounds trite to say it's almost embarrassing,

Rabiah Coon (Host):

but, um, yeah, it's just really, especially to talk to you about that.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Do you have any like advice or mantra that you want to share with people,

Rabiah Coon (Host):

which is something I ask every guest.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

In terms of mantra, I don't know, like, I just

Andrew Alexseyenko:

think like making some impact.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I don't know, like it could be some local impact or just to, uh, global, uh,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

something that, that gives you energy.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

For me, this volunteering activity gives me energy.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

, I don't have any mantra specific.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I just like want to advise people like, just do what you love, uh,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

make other people's lives better.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Good.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Okay.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So I have these set of questions that are kind of silly.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

They're called the fun five that, I mean that I'm going to ask you.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So the first one, what is the oldest t-shirt you have and still wear?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

well, a good question.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I can tell about a hoodie.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It's around like eight years and I love it.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Um, they, the hoodie has type of, uh, "don't give a fuck about

Andrew Alexseyenko:

weather" and, and it has a story.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Like about eight years ago, I was an intern in a marketing

Andrew Alexseyenko:

agency called ambulance.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And I was running my first half-marathon and it was like minus 11

Andrew Alexseyenko:

because it was just like three days before the new year.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It was like new year marathon and we make this t-shirts for all the people

Andrew Alexseyenko:

in the company who are running that day.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So it's, it's, it's a guy that have, uh, uh, great stories that, that,

Andrew Alexseyenko:

that this connected to this hoodie.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Oh man.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

That's crazy.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

It's hard enough to run.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Well, I can't run, but just at all, but then in that kind of weather.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Oh my gosh.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Okay.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So are you familiar with the movie Groundhog's Day?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Have you seen that?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

It's one of my favorite movies of my childhood.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

All right.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Good.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I just wanted to make sure.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So, if everyday was like Groundhog's Day, which should kind of might seem like

Rabiah Coon (Host):

that for you right now, I don't know.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Um, what song would you have your alarm clock set to play every morning?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So, uh, in, in this situation, I, I would, I would pick right

Andrew Alexseyenko:

now that John Lennon song "Imagine".

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Hmm.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Well, that's a, that's a good song then it makes sense for

Rabiah Coon (Host):

what you're going through now.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Um, okay.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Coffee or tea or neither

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Well, I love coffee.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I just like drinking coffee everyday.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And addicted to it.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Do you like it any specific way or just black or?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Um, I like cappuccino, flat white, uh, alternative

Andrew Alexseyenko:

as well, like all kinds of coffees.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

nice.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Okay, cool.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And can you think of something that just makes you like laugh already

Rabiah Coon (Host):

cry or something that did recently where you were just cracking

Andrew Alexseyenko:

well, uh, it's a good question.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Good question.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I just like met my friend that, uh, I haven't seen like for three

Andrew Alexseyenko:

months and, uh, we were just like, laughing together after not

Andrew Alexseyenko:

seeing like four for three months.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

That was a situation where I laughed a lot.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Nice.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

That's cool.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And it must've been nice to see him.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Okay, so last one, who inspires you right now?

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Well, uh, it's, it's, it's tough to say, uh, I would

Andrew Alexseyenko:

say I'm more inspired by technology.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And I think that the technology will, it's making our lives better.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So I, I think that those people who derives the most out of

Andrew Alexseyenko:

technology, they inspiring me.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So, uh, I like Andrew Ng.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

He's a lecturer in, uh, he's co-founder of Coursera.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And he's making a lot of education in machine learning and all this stuff.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So I think that their machine learning will you'll do you'll benefit a lot.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Nice.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

I mean, there's definitely a way to use it for good and ways it's

Rabiah Coon (Host):

improved our lives significantly.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

All right.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And so how do you want people to look you up?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

So maybe they want to look you up Andrew and talk to you,

Rabiah Coon (Host):

or they want to look up KOLO.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Where do you want them to go?

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And I'll put all the links in the show notes and more.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Cool.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

So, um, we have a website kolo u a dot com (koloua.com) where everyone can go

Andrew Alexseyenko:

and, and, and can look around about our information and donate if they want.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

I have my social media so if anyone has any questions or want to help

Andrew Alexseyenko:

they can reach out to me there.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

And the yeah we have a websites of my companies if anyone is interested.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Okay, cool.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And I'll put everything in the show notes.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Well, Andrew, it was really a pleasure talking to you today so

Rabiah Coon (Host):

thanks for taking the time to share what you've been doing and also

Rabiah Coon (Host):

just what's going on, where you are.

Andrew Alexseyenko:

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Thanks for listening.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You can learn more about the guest and what was talked about in the show notes.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Joe Maffia created the music you're listening to.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You can find him on Spotify at Joe M A F F I A.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Rob Metke does all the design for which I am so grateful.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

You can find him online by searching Rob M E T K E.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

Please leave review.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

If you'd like to show and get in touch if you have feedback or guest ideas.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

The pod is on all the social channels at at more than word pod

Rabiah Coon (Host):

(@morethanworkpod) or at rabiah comedy (@rabiahcomedy) on TikTok.

Rabiah Coon (Host):

And the website is more than work pod dot com (morethanworkpod.com).

Rabiah Coon (Host):

While being kind to others, don't forget to be kind to yourself.

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